


When Hope fails

by LazuliedLapis



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Battle Scene, Coming Out, Crying, Gen, Minor Violence, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Eridan Ampora, Profanity, Trans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:27:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26547511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazuliedLapis/pseuds/LazuliedLapis
Summary: Something has been weighing on the Prince of Hope's mind... an Eridan Ampora transstuck fanfiction.
Kudos: 18





	When Hope fails

Light beams in from Skaia, scattering off of the shimmering white stone architecture that defines the LAND OF WRATH AND ANGELS. Streaks of light fly through the air, and if one looks off into the distance, one can see powerful blue sparks fly up towards these streaks of light. Far in the distance, an Acheron cranes his head, staring with his four eyes into the sky, the clouds illuminated by the white light of the Angels and the blue light of the beams. He blinks and knows exactly who is firing those beams. 

The Prince of Hope, Eridan, stands in the middle of a large, shimmering courtyard, angels surrounding him like vultures flock around their prey. He slowly picks them off one by one with the Ahab’s Crosshairs, tracking one down with a sustained beam of destructive sapphire energy. Despite the catharsis of his newfound dominance over the angels, Eridan feels something inside his heart that he has never really understood. But today is the day, he’s decided. He’s never told anyone… but he decides today that now he will tell someone.

But… who?? Sollux? No, he’d just make fun of you. Kanaya wouldn’t be much help, for as much as she tends to meddle… NO. Not her. He decides… If there’s someone he has to tell, it can only be him. Eridan finishes fighting off the last of the angels, convinced that if he is truly alone, then he might as well come clean to the only person who ever really understood him.

**\--caligulasAquarium** **[CA]** **has begun trolling carcinoGeneticist** **[CG]** **!--**

**CA: hey kar you wwouldnt happen to have some free time wwould you**

**CG: AH, YES. FREE TIME.**

**CG: SHIT, I DON’T KNOW, DUKE GILLS THE FUCKWAD. MAYBE I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE WITH ENOUGH OGRES TO FILL MY ASSHOLE WITH ROCKS, AND TEREZI IS JUST BULGING AROUND LIKE A USELESS SHITSTAIN.  
**

**CG: IF THIS IS ABOUT FEFERI AGAIN I’M GOING TO SCREAM.**

**CG: NOW WHAT THE FUCK IS IT.**

**CA: i mean youre gonna scream anyways but ww/e**

**CA: look okay ive been thinkin about shit  
**

**CA: and i need to tell you something  
**

**CG: JUST SAY IT, IMBECILE. I’M FUCKING LISTENING.  
**

...Shit. He’s written himself into a corner. Until now, he could have easily backed out… but. Oh god, why did he do this? Questions race through Eridan’s head, question why in the name of Glb’golyb would he go and start talking like this… time to back out time to back out time to back out. Nope! Nope! Back into the closet!! Put the car in reverse!! No more of this!! Time bomb set, escape immediately!

**CA: shit uhhh**

**CA: nevver mind just go back to your rock fisting**

**CA: i guess**

**CG: OKAY LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT.**

**CG: 1: YOU JUST ASKED FOR CONSOLATION ON SOMETHING. YOU DON’T JUST DO THAT AND THEN FUCK OFF WHILE I’M ALREADY SITTING IN MY CHAIR READY TO TALK FEELINGS.**

**CA: please tell me you’re sitting in it properly kar**

**CG: 2: NEVER FUCKING UTTER THE WORDS “ROCK FISTING” AGAIN IN YOUR FUCKING LIFE OR I WILL SHOVE YOUR WATERMELON LOOKING SHITTY PAN INTO A ONE-INCH STEEL PIPE, LINED WITH NITRIC ACID AND WITH TWO TONS OF GUNPOWDER SHOVED IN AS WELL, WHICH I WILL THEN PROMPTLY LIGHT ON FIRE, THUSLY BLOWING YOU UP AFTER YOUR PAN HAS ALREADY BEEN SQUEEZED SO TIGHT IT COULD BE MISTAKEN FOR A STRESS TOY, MARK MY FUCKING WORDS.**

**CA: alright fine fine i guess okay just uhh**

**CA: kar i dont think im a boy**

As soon as Eridan types this message, they instinctively turn off their palmhusk and cringe in embarrassment. They fucking ruined it! WHAT WAS THAT?? ROCK FISTING??? WHY DID THEY SAY THAT???

They can hear their palmhusk ping and ping as Karkat, presumably, screams at them for being an idiot or something. Why did they do this, they wonder? They could have had a perfectly swell relationship with Karkat, but now this is ruined too. They can’t make anything work. For a Prince of Hope, they’re utterly hopeless, and they hate it. Oh my god.

And yet… still, they have to check. They have to know what Karkat is saying. They can’t just… move on without knowing. They need closure. They need to know that they ruined everything. So, despite what seems like a horrible idea to them, they check their phone anyways… and…

**CG: ...OKAY DO YOU WANT ME TO TREAT THIS SERIOUSLY? NOT MAKE MY USUAL SARCASTIC BULLSHIT?**

**CG: OR ARE YOU COOL WITH THAT? LIKE, YOU’RE NOT DOING THE BEST JOB AT CONVEYING TONE.**

**CG: DO YOU WANT ME TO BE SYMPATHETIC? PROUD? JOKEY?  
**

**CG: GOD, OKAY, WHATEVER. YOU’RE NOT A BOY. ARE YOU A GIRL? DO YOU WANNA TRY NEW PRONOUNS?  
**

**CG: OR DO YOU JUST WANT GENDER TO FUCK OFF OR WHATEVER? BECAUSE HONESTLY, I CAN KINDA GET THAT?**

**CG: LOOK, OKAY. I GET IT. YOU’RE NOT A BOY. BUT NO MATTER WHAT.**

**CG: YOU DO NOT.**

**CG: FUCKING.**

**CG: TELL ME.**

**CG: HOW TO SIT IN A CHAIR.**

**CG: SITTING WITH THE BACK FACING FORWARD IS RESPECTFUL. IT IS DIGNIFIED, AND YET IT DISPLAYS A DEGREE OF COMFORT THAT SHOWS THAT I DON’T VIEW YOU LIKE A THERAPUNISHER VIEWS A CLIENT.  
**

**CG: YOU’RE A FRIEND.**

**CG: AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, YOU’RE MY UNDERLING.**

**CG: I’M THE LEADER AND I DO WHAT I WANT.  
**

...He’s accepting. When Eridan reads these messages, they can feel a weight slide off of their heart that is just so, so relieving. They want to cry so bad, and they can’t hold it back, so they end up sobbing as they read those messages, sobbing so bad they have to reread several lines a couple of times just to make sure they correctly parse the meaning. It turns into a mixture of joyous laughs and choking sobs, an expression of utter joy that most would find envious… In other words, Eridan is ugly-crying. 

Slowly, but surely, the Prince of Hope scratches their fingers on their palmhusk, and a message appears in purple on Karkat’s screen.

**CA: shit yeah uhh can you call me they instead of he please**

They continue to sob, ending up hardly able to type at all.

**CG: OF COURSE BRO.**

**CG: ER, SORRY. UH. CAN’T THINK OF ANYTHING THAT FEELS CASUAL.**

**CG: NEVERMIND, I JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING.**

**CG: OF COURSE, FUCKASS.**

**CA: thank you**

**CA: and uhh can you tell everyone else too**

**CG: ASKING “NUBS MCSHOUTY” TO TELL EVERYONE ABOUT YOUR PRONOUNS IS A HORRIBLE IDEA, BUT WHATEVER.**

**CG: SURE, I CAN DO THAT.  
**

**CA: thank you kar**

As the Prince of Hope, Eridan Ampora, sits sobbing on their land, Karkat continues to slash, swipe, and struggle against a pair of Ogres, both of which are currently tossing him around as Terezi mocks him from a distance. Not like it hurts that much, he only has a couple of bruises or whatever. Truthfully, Ogres aren’t as deadly as they look, and some of the things that you would expect to kill someone instantly render them relatively fine. Even still, Karkat is fucking pissed, and he is NOT hiding it.

**KARKAT: TEREZI OH MY GOD FUCKING HELP ME**

**TEREZI: >:] OH COM3 ON TH3S3 GUYS 4R3 C4K3W4LKS**

**KARKAT: I DON’T CARE! AAAAAAGH**

Karkat suddenly takes a brutal blow as he gets slammed onto the ground, failing to defeat either Ogre, which declare him out for the count as they saunter away. Karkat lies there, grunting and sighing, as he looks up towards Terezi.

**TEREZI: SM3LLS LIKE YOU’R3 ST1LL 4 W1MP, HUH?**

**KARKAT: SHUT THE FUCK UP PYROPE OR I WILL REPLACE BOTH OF YOUR FEMURS WITH SICKLES AND MAKE YOU RUN A MARATHON.**

**KARKAT: ...BUT ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE. ERIDAN SEND ME A MESSAGE.**

**KARKAT: THEY SAY THEY WANT TO USE THEY/THEM NOW.**

**KARKAT: TEREZI, DON’T BE A HALF-PANNED FUCKWAD AND HELP ME TELL THAT TO EVERYONE ELSE.**

**TEREZI: >:0**

**TEREZI: K4RK4T 1 W1LL TR34SUR3 TH1S BURD3N W1TH MY L1F3**

**KARKAT: YEAH RIGHT, JUST DON’T FUCK IT UP.**

Later that day, Terezi opens a public memo, where everyone is free to reply. Her only messages in this memo are a long and incredibly extensive series of roasts towards Eridan, all of which use they/them pronouns with perfect syntax.


End file.
